🌲 Driftwood

Your apps. Your computer. No middleman.

A friendly, modern AppImage manager for Linux desktops - built by the community, owned by no one.

No accounts. No tracking. No data harvested. No profit motive. Just a tool that helps you manage your apps, and gets out of the way.

---

✨ What is Driftwood?

Driftwood is a graphical app manager for AppImages. AppImages are portable Linux applications that come as a single file - no installation needed, no package manager required, no root access, no corporate app store standing between you and the software you want to run.

But managing AppImages by hand can be confusing. Making them show up in your app menu, checking for updates, knowing if they're safe - that's a lot of work, especially if you're new to Linux.

Driftwood handles all of that for you with a clean, easy-to-use interface. It runs entirely on your machine - nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is collected, nothing is monetized.

---

🙋 Who is this for?

• People new to Linux who want a simple, welcoming way to manage their apps
• Anyone who downloads AppImages and wants them organized, updated, and integrated into their desktop without friction
• People who care about privacy and want to know exactly what their apps contain and whether any bundled libraries have known security issues
• People who believe software should be accessible to everyone - Driftwood meets WCAG 2.2 AAA accessibility standards
• Power users who want a full command-line interface alongside the GUI

---

🖼️ What does it look like?

Driftwood uses GTK4 and libadwaita, so it looks and feels like a native GNOME app. It has three main views:

View	What it does
Installed	Shows all your AppImages in a grid or list with status badges
Catalog	Browse and discover new AppImage apps from the community
Updates	See which apps have newer versions and update them

Click any app to see its full details - version info, security status, disk usage, screenshots, and more.

---

🌟 Features

📦 App Library

• Automatic scanning - Driftwood finds all AppImage files in your chosen folders (like ~/Applications or ~/Downloads)
• Grid and list views - See your apps as cards with icons, or as a detailed list - whichever you prefer
• Search and sort - Find apps by name, sort by name, size, or when you added them
• Tags - Label your apps with custom tags and filter by them
• Selection mode - Select multiple apps at once for batch actions
• Drag and drop - Drop an AppImage file onto the window to add it

🌐 App Catalog

• Browse community apps - Discover AppImage apps shared by developers and communities - no walled garden, no curation fees, no gatekeeping
• Category filters - Browse by Audio, Games, Graphics, Development, and more
• Featured apps - A rotating carousel of highlighted apps
• Search - Find apps by name across the entire catalog
• App details - See descriptions, screenshots, star counts, and download numbers
• One-click install - Download and add apps directly from the catalog

⬆️ Updates

• Check for updates - Scan all your apps for newer versions with one click
• Update all at once - Or update apps individually, your choice
• Release notes - See what changed in each new version before you decide
• Automatic backups - Optionally save old versions before updating, so you can roll back if something breaks
• Multiple update sources - Works with GitHub Releases, GitLab Releases, zsync delta updates, and OCS feeds

🚀 Desktop Integration

• Add to app menu - Make any AppImage show up in your desktop's application menu with one click
• Icon installation - Automatically extracts and installs the app's icon
• Autostart - Set apps to launch automatically when you log in
• Custom launch options - Add command-line arguments or environment variables per app
• Fully reversible - Remove any app from your menu just as easily as you added it. Every change Driftwood makes to your system is tracked and can be undone

🛡️ Security

Your apps shouldn't be a black box. Driftwood helps you see what's inside.

• Vulnerability scanning - Extracts the shared libraries bundled inside each AppImage and checks them against the OSV.dev vulnerability database
• CVE details - Shows the severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low), CVSS scores, and which library versions are affected
• Security report - Generate a full report of all your apps and export it as HTML, JSON, or CSV
• Desktop notifications - Get notified when a new vulnerability is found in one of your apps
• Signature verification - Check GPG signatures and SHA256 checksums
• Configurable thresholds - Choose whether to be notified about only critical issues or everything

🧩 FUSE and Wayland Compatibility

• FUSE detection - Checks whether your system can mount AppImages and tells you exactly what to install if it can't
• Guided FUSE setup - A step-by-step wizard that shows you the right install command for your distribution - no searching forums, no guesswork
• Wayland compatibility - Detects whether you're running Wayland or X11 and flags any compatibility concerns
• Fallback launching - If FUSE isn't available, Driftwood can extract and run AppImages directly - you're never locked out of your own software

🧹 Cleanup and Disk Management

• Duplicate finder - Detects when you have multiple copies of the same app or different versions taking up space, and shows how much you'd save
• Disk footprint - Shows config, cache, and data folders each app has created on your system - no hidden clutter
• Cleanup wizard - A guided walkthrough that finds orphaned desktop entries, leftover caches, and duplicates, then lets you choose what to remove
• Orphan cleanup - Finds and removes menu entries for AppImages that no longer exist on disk

📊 Dashboard

• System overview - A quick health check showing FUSE status, Wayland status, total apps, storage used, and apps needing updates
• At-a-glance stats - Everything about your AppImage setup in one place

⚙️ Preferences

• Appearance - Follow your system's light/dark theme, or pick one
• Scan directories - Choose which folders Driftwood watches for AppImages
• Update settings - Configure automatic update checking, backup behavior, and how long to keep old versions
• Security settings - Enable automatic scanning, notifications, and set a GitHub token for higher API rate limits
• Catalog settings - Toggle automatic metadata enrichment and removable media watching

🔒 Sandboxing

• Firejail support - Launch apps inside a Firejail sandbox for extra isolation
• Per-app profiles - Each app can have its own sandbox configuration
• Profile management - Use local, community, or default Firejail profiles

♿ Accessibility

Software that only works for some people doesn't really work. Driftwood is built to meet WCAG 2.2 AAA accessibility standards:

• Full keyboard navigation - Every single feature is reachable without a mouse
• Screen reader support - All buttons, images, and status changes are announced to screen readers like Orca
• Focus management - Clear, visible focus indicators (3px outlines) on all interactive elements
• 44px minimum target sizes - All buttons meet the AAA touch/click target standard
• High contrast support - Enhanced borders and colors when your system uses high contrast mode
• No timing requirements - Nothing in the app requires fast reactions or races against a clock
• Semantic roles - Headings, alerts, status regions, and live announcements are all properly marked up for assistive technology
• Automated testing - Ships with an AT-SPI audit tool that walks the live accessibility tree and checks for violations

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+1	Switch to Installed view
Ctrl+2	Switch to Catalog view
Ctrl+3	Switch to Updates view
Ctrl+F	Search
Ctrl+R or F5	Scan for AppImages
Ctrl+U	Check for updates
Ctrl+K	Open command palette
Ctrl+D	Open dashboard
Ctrl+,	Open preferences
Ctrl+?	Show keyboard shortcuts
Ctrl+Q	Quit

🖥️ Command Line Interface

Every feature is also available from the terminal. The GUI and CLI share the same database, so they always stay in sync.

driftwood scan               # Find AppImages in your configured folders
driftwood list               # Show all known AppImages
driftwood list --format json # Output as JSON

driftwood inspect ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage    # Show app metadata
driftwood integrate ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage  # Add to desktop menu
driftwood remove ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage     # Remove from desktop menu
driftwood launch ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage     # Run the app
driftwood launch --sandbox ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage  # Run in sandbox

driftwood check-updates      # Check all apps for updates
driftwood update-all         # Update everything
driftwood verify ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage     # Check integrity
driftwood verify ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage --sha256 abc123...  # Verify hash

driftwood security           # Scan all apps for vulnerabilities
driftwood duplicates         # Find duplicate AppImages
driftwood footprint ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage  # Show disk usage
driftwood status             # System compatibility check
driftwood clean-orphans      # Remove stale menu entries

driftwood export             # Export app list to JSON
driftwood export --output ~/backup.json
driftwood import ~/backup.json  # Import app list

driftwood autostart ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage --enable   # Autostart on login
driftwood autostart ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage --disable

driftwood purge              # Remove ALL Driftwood system modifications

---

🐧 Which Linux distributions does it work on?

Driftwood works on any Linux distribution that has GTK 4.16+ and libadwaita 1.6+. In practice, that means most modern distributions released from 2024 onward.

Distribution	Status	Notes
Ubuntu 24.04+	✅ Works	GTK4 and libadwaita in default repos
Fedora 40+	✅ Works	Excellent GTK4 support out of the box
Arch Linux	✅ Works	Rolling release, always has the latest
Manjaro	✅ Works	Same packages as Arch
openSUSE Tumbleweed	✅ Works	Rolling release with current GTK4
Debian Testing/Sid	✅ Works	Stable may have older GTK versions
Linux Mint 22+	✅ Works	Based on Ubuntu 24.04
Pop!_OS 24.04+	✅ Works	Based on Ubuntu
elementary OS 8+	✅ Works	GTK4-based Pantheon desktop
Gentoo	✅ Works	Build from source
Alpine	✅ Works	GTK4 in community repos
NixOS	✅ Works	Package GTK4 + libadwaita via Nix

Desktop environment: Driftwood is designed for GNOME but works on any desktop that supports GTK4 applications (KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, XFCE, Budgie, Sway, etc.). It looks best on GNOME and GNOME-based desktops because it uses libadwaita for styling.

---

🔧 System Requirements

What you need

Requirement	Version	What it is
GTK	4.16 or newer	The toolkit that draws the interface
libadwaita	1.6 or newer	GNOME's design library for modern-looking apps
SQLite	3	A small, local database engine (stores your app library)
gettext	any	Handles translations for different languages

Optional (but recommended)

Package	What it does
libfuse2 or libfuse3	Lets AppImages mount themselves (most AppImages need this to run)
firejail	Runs apps in a security sandbox for extra isolation
appimageupdate	Enables fast delta updates (downloads only what changed, not the whole file)

For building from source

Package	What it is
Rust 1.75+ and Cargo	The programming language and build tool
Meson	Build system (only for system-wide installation)
libgtk-4-dev	GTK4 development headers
libadwaita-1-dev	libadwaita development headers
libsqlite3-dev	SQLite development headers
libglib2.0-dev-bin	Provides glib-compile-resources and glib-compile-schemas

Package names vary between distributions. On Fedora, use -devel instead of -dev (for example, gtk4-devel instead of libgtk-4-dev). On Arch, the packages are gtk4, libadwaita, and sqlite.

---

🏗️ Building from Source

Quick development build

git clone https://git.lashman.live/lashman/driftwood.git
cd driftwood
cargo build
cargo run

System-wide installation

meson setup build --prefix=/usr
meson compile -C build
sudo meson install -C build

After installing, Driftwood will appear in your application menu.

---

📦 Packaging

Packaging files are included so anyone can build packages for their distribution:

Format	Location	Notes
Flatpak	build-aux/app.driftwood.Driftwood.json	Flatpak manifest
Arch Linux (AUR)	packaging/PKGBUILD	For makepkg
AppImage	packaging/build-appimage.sh	Build script

If you package Driftwood for a distribution not listed here, let us know - we'd love to include it.

---

📂 Where Driftwood Stores Things

Driftwood keeps everything local. Nothing leaves your machine.

What	Location
App database	~/.local/share/driftwood/driftwood.db
Cached icons	~/.local/share/driftwood/icons/
Desktop entries	~/.local/share/applications/driftwood-*.desktop
Installed icons	~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/
Autostart entries	~/.config/autostart/
Settings	GSettings (app.driftwood.Driftwood)
Backups	~/.local/share/driftwood/backups/

Every modification Driftwood makes to your system is recorded in its database. You can undo all of it at any time with driftwood purge or through the UI. Your system, your rules.

---

🧪 Accessibility Testing

Driftwood ships with an automated accessibility audit tool that uses AT-SPI (the Linux accessibility bus) to walk the live widget tree and check for WCAG 2.2 violations:

# Full AAA-level audit (builds and launches automatically)
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --level aaa

# Attach to an already-running instance
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --no-launch --level aaa

# AA level only
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --level aa

# Verbose output with live region inventory
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --level aaa --verbose

The tool checks for:

• Interactive widgets without accessible names (SC 4.1.2)
• Images without alt text or decorative marking (SC 1.1.1)
• Headings without level attributes (SC 1.3.1)
• Widgets that aren't keyboard-focusable (SC 2.1.1)
• Target sizes below 24px (AA) and 44px (AAA)
• Windows without titles (SC 2.4.8)
• Vague link text (SC 2.4.9)
• Content regions without headings (SC 2.4.10)
• Keyboard traps (SC 2.1.3)

Results are printed to the terminal and saved as a11y-report.json for CI integration.

---

🙌 Contributing

Driftwood is a community project. There's no company behind it, no investors, no roadmap driven by profit - just people building something useful together.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to contribute code, translations, bug reports, or ideas. Every contribution matters, and everyone who helps is a co-owner of this project.

---

📄 License

CC0-1.0 - Public Domain

Driftwood belongs to everyone. It is released into the public domain under the CC0 1.0 Universal license. You can copy, modify, distribute, and use it for any purpose - personal, educational, commercial, anything - without asking permission, without paying anyone, without restrictions.

Knowledge and tools should be shared freely. This is ours, and it's yours.